Some think it was sectarian , some think it was the best, few like think it was balanced and well written to the level I wonder who wrote it !?? I am speaking about Mohamed Morsi’s speech in Tehran at the Non Alignment movement summit.
Here is the speech in Arabic.

The important points in the long speech that continued for 42 minutes

El Assad regime should leave. “The Syrian delegation left and later slammed the speech as an intervention in Syria’s issue”

The right to have a Palestinian state recognized internationally and the rights of Palestinian refugees.

It is a good thing that Morsi went to say in Iran that El Assad regime should leave , it is better than boycotting the summit.
Now there is an euphoria among Arabs and Egyptians mainly from Islamists and Salafists because he saluted all the Righteous Caliphs name by name in Tehran. Radical Shiites do not recognized Abu Bakr , Omar and Othman as righteous caliphs. It is being hailed as the most important speech ever told in the Modern age in NAM , in Islamic world in the universe !!!!!
May be I am not sectarian but I believe that it was good gesture to unite Muslims in the speech of Morsi by mentioned Abu Bakr, Omar , Othman and Ali peace upon them all.
Now we got the Muslim brotherhood and activists like world famous Asmaa Mahfouz calling for a public hero reception for Morsi after historical great speech in Iran !!!
This is how Egyptians excelled in making false idols from their rulers !!!!!
The Muslim brotherhood and Al Nour Salafist Party have mobilized their members already to receive Morsi at the airport and also to receive at Fatmah El Shorbagy mosque in New Cairo where he prays
Ok now it is getting out of control , a Kuwaiti Poet called Hamd Ibn Abdullah dedicates a Poem to Morsi praising him as a President who conquers all villains and kicks the asses of Zoroastrians "Shiite" , Zionists , crosses "Christians". By the way that Kuwaiti Poet is actually from Salafi Jihadist Sheikh.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Constitution party has admitted its papers officially today to be recognized as an official political party presenting a new hope for the liberal parties in Egypt.
Most politicians welcomed including the Muslim brotherhood politicians in their own way

I welcome the Constitution Party in an addition to the parties that will appear and the parties that disappeared and Freedom and Justice Party will remain for a real democratic life in Egypt

This was leading MB member and current acting Freedom and Justice Party leader as well newly appointed adviser to President Morsi Dr. Essam El Arian !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Freedom and Justice Party will remain and the rest will disappear !!?? Wow so much for modesty !? and the MB insists on not being a new NDP !!
The MB and FJP politicians can not stand the party of their old ally Mohamed ElBaradei mocking it since its activities in the Eid.

Anyhow on the other hand Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotouh welcomed the new party that will compete his own party "Strong Egypt" in a very civilized noble way that shows the difference between him and El Arian.

The participation of Dr. ElBaradei in the partisan life will enrich it and the youth that surround him are a hope to Egypt .. good luck to constitution party and every committed young member in it.

I have got hopes for the Constitution party and I pray it will succeed. I have got hopes not because of the big names like ElBaradei, Gameela Ismail, Bothaina Kamel or dear Israa Abdel Fatah but because of its active members from youth all over the country that are engaging with the public unlike any other party so far

The Rare Books and Special collections Digital library of The American University in Cairo has published a very rare collection of photos showing Alexandria after its bombardment in 1882 by the British Navy.
In 1882 Ahmed Orabi and the army revolted against Khedive Tawfik , that failed revolution unfortunately could not stand against the British forces and its modern arms in Egypt. UK invaded Egypt by the request of Tawfik whom history will not forgive easily in 1882.
Anyhow this magnificent collection of photos shot by Italian photographer Luigi Fiorillo whose photo collections depicting the Middle East from the 19th century are considered a very good source to know how life was used to be like.
Here was Alexandria after its bombardment by British Navy , the Alexandrian cannons could not keep the British invaders away.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Now the Egyptian judiciary got a competition when it comes to politicized verdicts regionally : The Israeli judiciary !!
Today an Israeli court ruled out that Israeli government is not responsible for Rachel Corrie’s death !! It was the 23 years old American activist’s fault to stand against military bulldozers in 2003 to protest the demolition of Palestinian houses in Gaza. After all like judge Oded Gershon said , she could distance herself from bulldozer like any reasonable person !! Clearly Gershon believes late Corrie was a crazy woman to stand against a military bulldozer of an invading army attacking civilians !!
It was an accident and she brought it upon herself !!
Am I surprised ?? No I am not unlike those who thought Israel will treat the case differently because it concerns an American citizen !! After all if the court convicted the IDF , that conviction would open a debate about the actions of the IDF in Gaza and demolishing the Palestinian houses in the occupied territories.
Here is the reaction of the Corries after the verdict.

President Mohamed Morsi started his visit to China today where he was received officially by Chinese president Hu Jintao in Beijing earlier today. This is the third foreign visit for Morsi after his visit to Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia since he was elected as the President of Egypt.

Aside from the bilateral relations between Egypt and China , the Syrian issue is the main topic of the hour as I expected and hinted out before on twitter and people mocked me. Chinese media is highlighting the statements of Morsi’s spokesperson in China about Egypt’s refusal to military intervention in Syria. “Syrians are cursing Morsi already for this statement”

Economics relations are another important file Morsi is discussing with his Chinese counterpart. Morsi will sign 8 economic agreements in China concerning investment , telecommunications and ports. I think those 8 economic agreements are old ones from time of Mubarak that the ousted president ignored like for instance like developing west of the Suez project. It was signed during time of Mubarak and was completely forgotten. Interestingly enough the 70 businessmen accompanying Morsi are former NDP tycoons like Mohamed Farid Khamis and MB businessmen like Hassan Malak. Businessman and new steel tycoon Ahmed Abu Hashima “formally known as Haifa Wehbe’s hubby” is speaking about Egyptian-Chinese partnership in steel industry .

Monday, August 27, 2012

The presidential team has been announced today by Yasser Ali , the Presidency's spokesperson. It includes 4 assistants and 17 consultants.

4 assistants:

Samir Marcus : The president's assistant for the democratic transition. A Christian thinker and writer. Highly respected man in Egypt.

Emad Abdel Ghafur : The president's assistant for the social communication "Do not even ask me what the hell this means!!". He is the leader of Al Nour Salafist party.

Pakinam El Sharkawy : The president's assistant for political issues. A political sciences professor in Cairo university who is allegedly close to the Muslim brotherhood.

Essam Ahmed El Hadad : The president's assistant for the foreign affairs and international cooperation. A MB guidance office senior member and a physician , interestingly enough he was accused in the international organization of Muslim brotherhood case in time of Mubarak. He is currently responsible for the international MB branch. He comes from a MB family in Alexandria. He was the manager of Morsi's campaign and the head of the foreign relations in Freedom and justice party. Morsi wanted to appoint him as the head of presidential staff but

From the 4 , I will choose Samir Marcus. Now we got one Christian , one Salafist , one woman and one MB. Of course in another reading I will say we got one independent Christian thinker and 3 Islamists in the President's assistants.
The assistants will have official offices in the Presidential palace. No word if Abdel Ghafur and El Hadad will keep their partisan positions.

17 consultants :

Now the consultants council is not part of the presidential team according to Ayman El Sayyad , it is made of consultants who got only a consulting role.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

I think I spoke about this before , may be on twitter anyhow I think the ministry of Culture and Cairo Governorate should do something about that ugly metal structure called “Ayman Taha Mall” beside the famous and Ancient Sultan Abu Ela Mosque in Boulaq Down town Cairo.

I took those photos in a taxi with my iPhone so I am sorry if they are not that great.

That building made of metal and glass is called the “Ayman Taha Mall” , some sort of a project by former MP Ayman Taha for street vendors in the famous Boulaq quarter. Needless to say for months that building is not working or operating , standing still beside the ancient mosque and destroying the scene which is already damaged by the popular market of Boulaq !!

Taha was a member of the NDP who used to represent labor seat in the parliament on behalf of Downtown Cairo area. You can see the ads showing NDP MP Taha calling the women to vaccinate their children freely with the NDP logo on the walls of Al Galaa hospital.

After the revolution he joined the Free Egyptians Party “ I doubt he knows the meaning of liberalism” and he won the parliamentary elections and represented the Labor seat of Downtown Cairo. After being a member in the industry committee, Taha resigned from the party. “I bet he is thinking of joining Freedom and Justice Party now”

I do not care about Taha and his project , I care about that old ancient mosque , it is enough the damage this bridge had to endure because of the bridges now it got that tasteless metal building besides it with the ugly posters of Taha all over it , enough is enough !!

Sultan Abu Ela was not a Sultan but rather a Sufi Sheikh from Arabia who came and lived in Egypt in order to be near from Prophet Mohamed’s family “Peace upon them” in Egypt. He was called a Sultan as the Sultan of Sufis. Despite the current building or mosque was built and decorated in time of Mamluks , the shrine itself exists since 9th century CE for God sake.

This mosque and its history is part of the real history of Cairo. For God sake

By the way I read in the newspapers late 2011 that this ugly mall thing is going to be removed by the municipals workers and that

The town of Daraya in Reef Dimshaq was associated in my mind before the revolution with fruits and jams ; the best jams in the world , the best cherry in the world , the best canned apricots but now it is associated with massacres more than anything !!
Today El Assad forces committed another huge crime , another huge massacre that according to human rights activists not less 200 have been killed in the shelling of Daraya today. The footage coming from there is extremely horrible , charred bodies , blown limbs and brains !! Children , elderly women and men !! Horrible scenes that have actually become the norm !!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Morsi is facing a lot of challenges more than anyone can imagine with a legacy of failing decay state that needs to be revived.
One of the major challenges facing Morsi is Water in Egypt , oh yes Water in Egypt aside from food prices and housing and aside from the Nile Basin struggle on water. We are speaking about the basic clean water access. You will be amazed how many areas in Egypt , the land of the Nile , people suffer from clean water access problems. You will be shocked more when you know how much money was supposedly spent on water infrastructure project in time of Mubarak using foreign aids and for sure you will wonder where that money had gone.
There are water access problems , water distribution problems and water filtering problems.
Hundreds of citizens were poisoned because of polluted water in Sanasfat village in Monufia The numbers of patients are exceeding everyday

Sansafat village is the not the only village in the country that suffer from clean water access problems , in fact it is from the lucky villages and towns in the Nile Delta with water access. There are many villages with no water access at all in Upper Egypt !!!!!!!!!!!!
This happens in the land of the Nile !!
Sanafar village and other villages in Egypt are not the responsibility of Morsi.

Check the photos our amazing citizen journalist Heba Kholy took in Sansafat village , Monufia.You should see the color of water to know what I am trying to say

Friday, August 24, 2012

Many people in Egypt predicted that the #August24 Protest will be huge failure for following reasons :

Logically people do not go to protest against new democratically elected president after 50 days of his rule.

Many of those calling for the protests like Abu Hamed and Okasha are false leader with no real popularity what so ever in the street when it comes to revolution or revolutionaries.

This protest was backed up by that branch in SCAF and intelligence opposing the revolution in generation , that branch has gone with the wind now.

The ambiguity of the protest’s goal : Is to bring down the democratically President or to call for a military rule or to bring down the Muslim brotherhood ??

The problem now that the Muslim brotherhood will act as if it got a divine legitimacy thinking that the numbers of protesters came today to the street is the true size of its opposition in the street. Already we got a statement of one of the FJP officials in Al Shorouk newspaper website claiming that the protests reflected the true size of Morsi’s opposition in the street. This is not the true opposition that the MB will face and is facing it , the brotherhood and its party will be fooling themselves if they think so. Still realistically the brotherhood won today.
I covered the protests or protest to be accurate in Tahrir square where it was controlled by dozens of Mohamed Morsi supporters , despite some of them were Islamists , few told me that they were not MB but they were independent protesters who came to support President Morsi with their own blood.
I do not want to seem judgmental or rude but some of these Pro-Morsi protesters did not look like the MB members at all, in fact some of them reminded me with the NDP supporters. “Some of them reminded me with the NDP thugs especially with their aggressiveness and rudeness”
Needless to say any other protesters who came to protest against Morsi or the Muslim brotherhood was kicked out and insulted by those dozens. I witnessed how an old man was kicked out of some group standing near Hardees where he was being labeled Abu Hamed’s man who is financed by Sawiris ..etc.
These supporters chanted “ Morsi, Morsi” , “The Square says that there is no place for felol”.. etc. “They once chanted “Not eastern nor western but rather Islamic , Islamic”
Now there were these scenes that made me stop like the scene of the flags sellers selling the MB, Morsi and Islamist flags besides the Egyptian flag, like the Morsi merchandise sold everywhere. There was that scene of that family made of father , mother and two toddlers including a boy wearing a tiny army suit. The man insisted that he was free to protest against the MB in Tahrir square because he and his family were Egyptians and Tahrir is for all Egyptians. If it were not the madam and kids , he would be beaten without doubt. It ended that the family went to Mohamed Mahmoud street.
I met a lady in her 50s , Mrs. Fatahia who is uneducated as she said yet she came to tell Morsi that he should look after the poor and not to honor men like Tantawy.
The best scenes of all was that man who kept his hands in chains and screamed in the pro-Morsi and anti-Morsi protesters in Tahrir square.

You sons of bitches stop fighting each other , your money is stolen abroad and you continue to fight each other like in time Mubarak !!

Side talks in the corners of Tahrir square and Talaat Harb were the main interesting thing in the boring day.
There was that short battle of rocks hurled between the pro-Morsi protesters and Anti-Morsi protesters in Talaat Herb street, there were no casualties then. Now contrary to the proper misconception the Revolutionary socialists did not join the anti-MB/Morsi protests but rather the Egyptian communist party.
The aggressiveness of the Pro-Morsi supporters was epic here with people screaming in the face of the reporters and cameras that people should give Morsi a channnnnnce.
There was no shooting in Tahrir square , I was there when I heard that shot that according to TV reporters standing the scene some kind of fireworks. Needless to say the guy who threw these fireworks was captured by the Pro-Morsi supporters and got his ass kicked. I do not know if they went to the police to report him or not but there was no single policeman in the square today. The traffic was organized by volunteers.
In the end it was a boring day.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

For the first time since getting rid from SCAF and without having a parliament , President Morsi uses his granted legislative powers and issued a law to ban the temporary detention in the press related crimes amending article no.41 of the Press law no.96 for year 1996.
According to the Presidency spokesperson Yasser Ali the accidentally infamous hero of the day Islam Afifi, the editor in chief of Al Dostor will be released from his temporarily detention.
This law is considered ineffective up till now because it has not been published in the State's official newspaper yet the Public prosecutor decided to release Ali who will be a free man in a couple of hours.
And that was finale , from that presidential intervention at the end of the film that saved the day miraculously.
Today the Giza criminal court decided to adjourn the case against Islam Afifi to September 17,2012 and to detain him temporarily for 15 days pending the trial !!
Afifi is accused of defaming the president , the ruler of the country and he can go to jail according to article no. 179 in the penalties. This article is very old , it was the defame of royalty in time of monarchy then the defame of president in time of republic. It should be abolished.
Already Morsi also cancelled the temporarily detention yet Afifi can go in jail in the end if he is found guilty of defaming the president.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Egypt has requested officially today a $4.8 billion loan from the IMF during the visit of Mrs. Christine Lagarde to Cairo today and her meeting with President Morsi and Prime minister Hisham Kandeel.
Ironically the Muslim brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party under the leadership of Morsi rejected the loan from the IMF from several months ago when former PM Ganzoury “Current President’s adviser” announced that his government will seek a $3.2 billion loan from the IMF. We all remember how the MB in the parliament stood against the matter just like the rest of the revolutionary forces that refused to increase the burden of the country another loan with conditions that will harm the poor in the future.
The Freedom and Justice Party “led by our current president Morsi” issued a strong short statement refusing the loan and wondering why we have to get a loan from the IMF when we have a lot of sources last February. Former FJP leader and current elected president of Egypt Mohamed Morsi told the IMF officials back that we did not need economic burdens !!
It is worth to say that in 2011 SCAF refused that loan then in early 2012 it backed Ganzoury’s government in its quest but MB refused then when MB is in charge of the country it accept it !!
It seems to me that the Muslim brotherhood and their presidential candidate did not know the trouble Egypt is suffering from when they made up their great renaissance program that their experts spent over 20 days working on it !!!!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Eid beasts are back and in the past 48 hours there was sad rapid increase in sexual harassment in Cairo especially in public gardens and busy street.

Th Eid beasts

This year you can not ignore the fact we got a new kind of harassers , 10 years old harassers who chase girls to grope them imitating the older harassers in the most dirtiest way ever despite I do not think that a 10 years old boy think about sex in that age but rather football and video games !!

Young victims and young harassers

Both the ages of the victims and harassers are decreasing year after a year !!!
It is like children now jumping in to the sexual harassment wagons. These boys will grow up in to a time bomb without doubt.

Now as we are living these little nostalgic moods , I recommend that you read this amazing piece about the famous and historical Groppi restaurant and Cafe from the Newsweek by Vivian Salama. I am happy that the Groppi clan is still thinking of returning back to Egypt to reopen new set of cafes as it was said in the end of the feature. I really wish they would return back , already from economic point of view there is rapid increase in the foreign cafes and restaurants in Cairo now especially with the increase of fancy malls. Chains like Paul and La Gourmandise are opening now several branches throughout Cairo and Giza as well Alexandria catering to high and Upper middle class successfully.I do not need to speak about Cilantro or Costa or Beno’s huge success among the middle class.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Today is the first day from the 3 days of Eid El Fitr. I do not feel like posting any serious stuff to be honest , so I will keep it light those 3 days unless anything serious takes place. “Hopefully not”
So here are couple of interesting scenes from today’s Eid prayer.

Women praying "Reuters"

Morsi prayed publicly in Amr Ibn El As mosque, Cairo’s oldest and biggest mosques in a scene that we have missed for decades. Nasser and Sadat used to pray with the public in various mosques across Cairo and in the governorates unlike Mubarak who used to pray in army mosques at back row.

Morsi Praying "AP"

The rivalry between the MB and Salafists is still over which group would control the praying spaces and mosques in the Eid. The MB won this Eid. Many expressed their dismay from how the MB is trying to use the religious event to promote for its political party Freedom and Justice.
BY the way after decades the famous Mohamed Ali Mosque was opened for Eid prayers.

Eid prayer in Mohamed Ali Mosque "Reuters"

In North Sinai, Al Arish a Salafist Sheikh addressed the the people in the prayer speaking about the importance to cooperate with authorities to fight terrorism in the Eid’s speech.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

It was a very short visit to the famous Khan Al Khalili market and Al Hussein quarter in Ramadan thanks to being invited to a breakfast at the Khan Al Khalili and Naguib Mahfouz Cafe and restaurant. “Highly recommended”
It was a great opportunity to sit for awhile at the famous El Fishawy cafe for couple of minutes , unfortunately it was crowded , noisy and full of street vendors who are insisting that they should buy from them.
Here is my favorite photo.

And Scheherazade tell you happy Eid to all our dear readers who listened and waited on a daily basis her to complete the tale of Ramadan 2012 , the tale of Hagar and Sahar.
This is the first time I publish 30 episodes and I hope that you like it.
Now without any fancy introduction here is the 30th night , the finale of our Ramadan Arabian nights in 2012. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element
Now this tale was used wisely in the Nasser propaganda in early 1960s and his radio frequencies war with King Hussein of Jordan as well the Al Soud Royal family in KSA.
There are revolution and coup against the new Seksek Badroon who escaped to the King Kaood “in reference to King Al Saud” and is backed up by King AnHussein aka “King Al Hussein of Jordan”.
Nevertheless the rebels find support from the Nile noble knight insisting that they are only defending those cruel monarchs not their people or even their armies ;)
Anyhow our beloved Hagar and Sahar meet in the battle. Our Sahar already disguised like a man and fought like a knight.
In the end the couple love together happily every after till death did them apart.
To be honest I do not like this finale , I wished for more drama/magic thing.
Thank you so much for listening and next year Scheherazade will meet you again with new tales insh Allah

This is the sort of news that makes me understand why we got too many social challenges causing trouble not less dangerous than our political challenges that setting us back !!
In 1914 the Egyptian university “Fouad University/Cairo university” sent student Taha Hussein to France to complete his university education there.
In 1959 the Dean of Arab literature who once said that education is like water and air was appointed by the State as the new editor in Chief of newly published then “Al Gomhouria newspaper”
Now a side note : Taha Hussein was blind.
In 2012 Student Ahmed Abdel Moneim was announced the first in the 2012 class of 3rd secondary stage nationwide with a score of “99/5%”.
As an annual tradition the 10 students with the highest grades nationwide in the 3rd second stage class are awarded with a trip to France organized by Al Gomhouria newspaper in coordination with the ministry of education. Ahmed Abdel Moneim was excluded from that trip surprisingly. The justification of Al Gomhouria was that they feared on Ahmed’s safety because of his disability !!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahmed is blind and he is the first in the blind class nation wide.
I will not say anything except one day Ahmed Abdel Moneim will be more successful and his name will be remembered through out Egypt and the Arab nation just like Taha Hussein unlike those blind hearted bastards !!!
I am so angry just like hundreds or even thousands of Egyptian youth who found the story throughout the media.
Unfortunately the story of Ahmed is just the ice berg of the hell Egyptian disabled citizens face. I hope that President Morsi does something to help restoring their lost rights more than meeting our Paralympics heroes before heading to London at the Presidential Palace. When I remember it ElBaradei, Moussa and Abu El Fotouh cared for this particular file.

First I apology for not posting the 28th Night of 1001 radio nights , you have to blame Cairo’s crazy traffic last Thursday as I returned home with no power what so ever to do anything.
Now we are coming close to the end of our story , the story of Hagar and Sahar.
This is the 28th night of the tale with huge big development. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element
Now wicked Seksek Hamdon transferred his soul to the body of Hagar in order to marry Sahar but he was surprised to know that Sahar was yet again back to her sad mood as her nightingale !! In an attempt to brag with his reincarnation ability and transferring souls from one to another , Hamdon reveals his secret and even demonstrates it in front of her by transferring his soul to the bird’s dead body.
As soon as Hamdon transfers his soul to the cat’s dead body , we are met with huge surprise. The sad nightingale Sahar had suddenly transferred its soul to Hagar’s empty and we find ourselves in front of the real Hagar who quickly kills the cat with the soul of Seksek Hamdon.
Hagar tells his beloved Sahar the story of the wicked trick of the old man.
You can refresh your memory here.
This is the 430th night of the Egyptian radio’s legendary Arabian radio nights show.
Now moving to the 29th night of our tale.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

At the time we are busy in our internal issues in Egypt and trying to keep up with Syria , the unexpected “somehow” happens in Lebanon in the most craziest way ever !! Today millions of Arabs were introduced to a new Clan in Lebanon that is participating by force in the decision making process not only in that beautiful country but in the Middle East judging on what is happening so far.
Today Al Mokdad family/Clan announced that its military branch has captured 30 Syrians allegedly from the Syrian Free army after the capture of a group of Lebanese in Syria including a member of their clan by the FSA.

The Syrian POWs !!

The FSA claimed that this group of Lebanese was actually following Hezbollah and came to aid El Assad’s regime in its war against the rebels !!
The Clan’s spokesperson “Yes they got a spokesperson” threatened that military branch of the family to escalate their operations if their man is not released in 48 hours !!
It has been years in Lebanon that we hear a clan got a military branch in this Social media/televised way !!
Hours later we knew that the Al Mokdad kidnapped a Turkish hostage “Aidan Tufan”and a Saudi hostage.
As soon as the news of kidnapping the Turkish and Saudi hostages by the family of the Day in Lebanon , the Kingdom issued an order to its citizens in Lebanon to leave it ASAP.
After the threat of Al Mokdads that they will target Qatari citizens in Lebanon and the news that Saudi citizen was kidnapped by the militant family , Qatar urged its citizens to leave Lebanon ASAP. Of course there is an unconfirmed news that Qatari government threatened that if a single Qatari citizen is kidnapped in Lebanon , it will kick all the Lebanese citizens from Qatar !! “I hope it is untrue because it is disgusting and racist”
It was not a matter of hours when we found Sheikh Abdullah Ibn Zayed , the UAE’s minister of foreign affairs announced on his official twitter account that the UAE MOFA is discussing the matter.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Here is our 27th night from our tale in Ramadan 2012 , the tale of Hagar and SaharIf you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element
The Old Sesek busted the dirty trick of his aides Wakwak and Qobqab who wanted to turn him against Hagar. Back in his secret chamber where he is keeping Hagar’s body , the old tyranny got a devilish idea , he will keep transferring his soul in to young men’s bodies to reach for immorality.
Meanwhile Poor Sahar agrees to marry Hagar despite she feels that there is something about him. Oddly enough she does not attract a cat in to her chamber but she also attracts a strange nightingale.
The Old Seksek is on the verge of not announcing that Hagar will marry Sahar but also he is abdicating his throne to Hagar in Public to seek immorality.
You can refresh your memory here.
This is the 429th of the Egyptian radio’s legendary Arabian radio nights show.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

It is our 26th night from our tale in Ramadan 2012 , the tale of Hagar and SaharIf you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element
The Old Seksek goes to Sahar telling her that she should marry Hagar now claiming that his fortuneteller Wakwak did not find their tribe. Our beautiful lady believes that there is something wrong with her beloved Hagar whom she fears now. She finds some condolences in lady Hanom’s cat “I bet it is not a cat but rather Jinn”.
Meanwhile Wakwak , the Seksek’s fortuneteller and Qobqab , the Seksek’s poet feel that there is something when it comes to Hagar and the old wicked man’s friendship. After agreeing to discover the secret of that room the two are using , they decided to turn the king against Hagar.
You can refresh your memory here.
This is the 428th of the Egyptian radio’s legendary Arabian radio nights show.

There are lot of reactions in Egypt following Mohamed Morsi’s daring military reshuffle decisions. Most reactions welcome the decisions. Some consider the decisions as historical ones , after all it is the first time in our modern history that a democratically elected civilian retires and appoints ministers of defense.
Some believe that this is the end of the 60 years military rule of Egypt and the legacy of July 1952. Of course others believe that this is actually just the beginning , it is a deep legacy where ex-army generals control civilian leading positions in many places.
Another team believes that this is a victory for the revolution , after all you kicked out Mubarak’s army men who are accused of sabotaging the #Jan25 Revolution for nearly 16 months.
Meanwhile neutral Egyptians think it was a good move after the fiasco of the army in the massacre of Sinai and the killing of the 16 Egyptian soldiers from the borders guards in Rafah. The Egyptian army needs new blood.
Ironically those who hate the revolution also welcomed the decisions and were happy that Tantawy and Anan were kicked. They already believe that Tantawy and Anan betrayed Mubarak and gave up the country and the army to the Muslim brotherhood , Americans,Iranians and Israel !!! “Do not even ask or debate”
Of course there is another team who does not approve these decision and believe it is a civilian coup against the military in order to start the Muslim brotherhood’s master plan in MB-ization of the army and the State in partnership with the States that want to destroy our army forever.

It is our 25th night from our tale in Ramadan 2012 , the tale of Hagar and Sahar boys and girls If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element

Now crazy old Seksek has given his orders to his men to execute all the goats in his land to make sure that Hagar’s soul does not survive not to mention to find its way to his body kept in the old tyranny's palace.
After getting in to Hagar’s body , unfortunately the old tyranny knows more secret about the rebels in his kingdom through Sahar and Lady Hanom. We already knew that he got help from the rebels. Sahar still refuses his sexual advances insisting to wait till they get married when their tribes arrive to the kingdom. The Seksek sent his fortuneteller Wakwak to the Land of Ibn Kanan to get the couple’s families.
Poor Hagar still roams the vast desert feeling sad.
Our night ends when Wakwak returns back to the King carrying important news.
You can refresh your memory here.This is the 427th of the Egyptian radio’s legendary Arabian radio nights show.

Monday, August 13, 2012

General Abdel Fatah El Sisi and General Sobhy Sadky , our latest minister of defence and chief of staff or to be accurate the first minister of defence and Chief of Staff to be appointed by democratically elected civilian president since 1953. "The declaration of Egyptian republic".
General Abdel Fatah Khalil El Sisi is considered the 71st minister of defence in Egypt since the position came to the Egyptian government in mid 19th century. Of course it is not a first time to hear the name of El Sisi who has been a member of SCAF and the head of military intelligence.Now quick bio :
Born in 1954 , his father was a merchant in Khan Khalil famous quarter which means he is from Cairo. He graduated from military academy in 1977 as an infantry officer not in 1969 as most media claim. Accordingly He did not fight in 1973 war. He is the second youngest member in SCAF. "Already not one thought to check back because if they did , they will know that in 1969 he was 15 years old !!"Among the leading positions he occupied in the army :

ِA commander of mechanized infantry battalion

The military attaché in our embassy in KSA

The Chief of staff of the Northern Military zone "Alexandria"

The Commander of the Northern Military zone "Alexandria"

The head of the information and security in the general secretariat in the ministry of defence.

The head of the military intelligence and reconnaissance "He was appointed by Mubarak"

And the 24th night of our tale , the tale of Hagar and Sahar is here. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element
Now the wicked Seksek Hamdon transfers his soul to the body of Hagar in order to earn the love of his beloved Sahar. Poor Sahar fell in to the trap but felt that there was something strange about Hagar especially with his insistence to stay in the Seksek’s court and how he treats her. The Seksek then returns back to his palace after his meeting with Sahar transferring his soul to his old fragile body keeping the body of Hagar in a sealed chamber.
Meanwhile the soul of poor Hagar is trapped in the body of a goat that roams to the unknown in the desert.
You can refresh your memory here.
This is the 426th of the Egyptian radio’s legendary Arabian radio nights show.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Ok more presidential decrees no one expected just an hour before breakfast.
President Mohamed Morsi has just cancelled the constitutional declaration annex issued by SCAF to restore his full powers as the President of State. Now Morsi got the same powers of Mubarak technically.
He also appointed judge Ahmed Mekky , the member of constituent assembly “close to Islamists” and the famous reformist judge as his vice president. "I knew that he could not appoint someone with bigger charisma like Abu El Fotouh”
The presidential decrees did not stop at that because much important decrees are :

Forcing Field Marshal Tantawy , the minister of defense and head of SCAF and Sami Anan , the chief of staff in the Egyptian armed forces in to retirement.

Appointing General Abdel Fatah El Sissy as the minister of defense and General commander of the Egyptian armed forces."The commander of military intelligence"

Appointing General Sadky Sobhy as the chief of staff of the armed forces. “The commander of third army”

Appointing Major General Mohamed El Assar as the minister of defense assistant

Appointing General Mohab Mamish as the CEO of Suez Canal authority. “Morsi held a meeting with the former CEO of SCA yesterday’s night as far as I know”

This is the biggest military reshuffle ever. Unfortunately I will not be able to comment now as I am heading to some old friends reunion Iftar after less than 1/2 hour and I have not even get dressed yet !!
Quickly , it is quick safe exist which the generals hinted before about “Tantawy’s retirement”. The scary part is that we do not have a constitution and Morsi got a Godlike powers just like Mubarak. It is amicable reshuffle by the approval and blessings of the generals. In fact these appointments are by their recommendations in nutshell.
At the time being you can check this Who is who in SCAF post I made from a year ago.Update :
Ok Mohamed El Assar is the US man in Cairo , this reshuffle got the American blessing without doubt. The Muslim brotherhood and their Youth are crazy tonight with their victory ,the old regime supporters and Anti-MB fraction are stunned , shocked and afraid from the future. There are lots of rumors now about the fate of Tantawy and Anan , whether they did not know or did know or whether they are under house arrest or not.

I do not know if it were a wicked plan by the administration of the Faculty of the fine Arts in Zamalek to stop its students from drawing anti-SCAF and political graffiti on the walls of the faculty or it is a genuine art project but either way what I saw at the Faculty of Fine arts lately.
Beautiful mosaic paintings on the walls of the Faculty from outside representing tributes to Egyptian painters , icons and sculptors like Hassan Fathy and Mahmoud Mokhtar.

Tonight is our 23rd night from our tale , the tale of Hagar, Sahar and Egrama. It is the 425th night from the Egyptian radio’s Arabian nights. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element
Now Seksek Hamdon and Hagar are alone in some hunting trip , till they reach to the middle of no where in order to win his trust. The Seksek tries to win the trust of Hagar through telling him his magical secret : To revive the dead and to transfer the souls from one body to another. He will demonstrate it through some dead animal corpse which he will transfer his body to.
Hagar still mistrust the old wicked king and so the Seksek tells him how it works to win his trust more. Now the wicked man tells Hagar to try it and to transfer his soul to the dead animal’s corpse. As soon as he does that , the wicked king decided to to transfer his own soul’s to Hagar’s body.
Now the soul of the Seksek is in the body of Hagar and unsurprisingly that Seksek in the body of Hagar wants to kill that animal that got Hagar’s soul inside it. The animal runs away and the Seksek/Hagar’s body chases him. After losing trace , the Seksek in Hagar’s body returns to his old dead body. His plan is simple , he will return back to Sahar as her beloved Hagar but the king faces a dilemma what he will do with the body !?? He decides to return back to his old body and drag with him the body of Hagar.
In his way to the palace , Hanoma sees the dead body of Hagar and tells Sahar who went crazy heading to the Sesek’s court.
It is a bit crazy.
You can refresh your memory here and remember what happened in the previous nights.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Ok lots of stuff took in Egypt this week , aside from Sinai and its implications , aside from Morsi’s and his decisions ; the new heads of the famous State owned newspapers appointed by Shura council on Wednesday made it hard for the revolution to reach for the famous Press street in Cairo after all these months !!
The Shura council “with Islamist majority led by MB’s Freedom and Justice party” chose the new editors of chief of publications issued by the state owned publishing corporations in Egypt. We are speaking here about 10s of publications from daily and weekly newspapers as well weekly and monthly magazines. Most of these publishing corporations suffer from financial and managerial corruption after decades of being controlled by the police state.

purging the media was a demand

These appointments were decided based on a mechanism that was rejected for months by journalists whether Pro-Revolutionaries or Non Revolutionaries.The mechanism was also rejected by the members of journalists syndicate. I will not waste your time and mine in explaining what the mechanism is but I will tell you that the Shura council member who heads the panel to choose the chiefs in editor is actually a person who has not worked in journalism or media !!
That mechanism adopted by Shura Council does not liberate the state owned press from the state’s control as we wish and want in the post Revolution Egypt , in fact now the State owned press will be controlled by the majority party whatever this party is accordingly.
Now despite all the people expected that the Shura council would choose MB to head the state owned newspapers , the heads of the major newspapers , the big three “Al Ahram , Al Akhbar and Al Gomhouria” to be accurate. But surprisingly they choose at least for Al Ahram and Gomhouria , the MB chose big Felol names aka former regime supporters. I do not know what kind of media purging is that !!!
Abdel Nasser Salamah , Al Ahram Daily newspaper’s new editor in Chief is a big Anti-#Jan25 Revolution outspoken journalist who has been attacking the revolution and describing the protesters as agents of foreign countries !! In early February 2011 he spoke about foreign agents in Tahrir square despite he believed that the majority in Tahrir square from the good youth that seek better political life !!
Of course after ousting Mubarak , the man shifted his loyalty to SCAF and continued to attack the protesters who protested against the council throughout 2011. It is enough to say that Salama used to appear in Tawfik Okasha´s TV show as constant guest and commentator !!

Scheherazade is going to enchant us with two nights not only one tonight from her tale ,the tale Hagar , Sahar and Egrama.
We will start with the 21st night of our tale , which is the 423rd episode of the Egyptian Radio classical Arabian nights show written by legendary Taher Abu Fasha. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element
The Dervish will show the Seksek what can not be seen , a secret that God only knows , the secret of reviving the dead , oh yes the secret of Resurrection. At first the old king does not believe it at first but Dervish wants to demonstrate it through a corpse of a human or an animal.The king orders his men to bring a corpse of a dead man. Now the dervish is telling the king about transferring the spirits from one body to another body and how he learned that from his old master. It is something like reincarnation.
The Seksek’s servants bring to him a dead chicken and the dervish tells the king that he will transfer his soul “the dervish” to the chicken’s dead boy.He asked the king’s permission to let him lay his body while transferring his soul. The magic happens , the chicken revives towards the scared king while the dervish seems to be dead , then the chicken dies and the dervish is awake again.

Friday, August 10, 2012

And one of these 17 papal candidates listed blow is going to be the next Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
The candidates are divided in to 7 bishops and 10 monks so far. Those 17 candidates will reach in to 7 candidates that go for elections from which the top 3 candidates will be chosen and a child will choose the next Pope between them in a draw blindfolded in a big ceremonial event. The acitng Pope Bakhmious released these details about the 17 candidates.The candidates are:
1- Bishop Bishoy , the secretary of the holy Synod and the metropolitan of Damietta , Kafr El Sheikh , Babrary and the monastery of Saint Demiana. Born in 1942, Bishoy graduated from faculty of engineering before joining the monastic order. He was ordained as a Bishop in 1972 and was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan in 1990.
2- Bishop Youannes, the former secretary of late Pope Shenouda III and the bishop of social services. A graduate of faculty of medicine, University of Assuit, Youannes was ordained as a Bishop in June 1993.
3- Bishop Boutros, the General Bishop and Pope Shenouda III's personal secretary. The member of The Holy Synod was born in Sharkia governorate in 1949 and got a bachelor's degree in Agricultural sciences and was ordained as a bishop in June 1985.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

And welcome to the great Cairo outage!! Today is the climax
of electric outage where many areas in Cairo and Giza suffer from complete outage
for two hours at least now. I woke up to do to find myself sitting in complete darkness,
no light and no ACs. It is the first time to have electric outage in my area already.

Now I found out that there is general blackout through Cairo
and Giza in areas like Zamalek, Mohendessin, Heliopolis, Downtown Cairo, 10th
Ramadan and October. Some areas in Alexandria are reporting electric outage as
well.

Now the Metro stations are suffering from that outage to the
level that people got stuck in the Metro vehicles and had to open its door
manually and walk in complete darkness to avoid suffocation.

I cannot understand how on earth and heavens that the Metro
does not have emergency power generators!! Needless to say not only the Metro
is suffering but the Egyptian stock market also suffered from outage.

Now from what I understand there is a problem in the 10th
Ramadan power station in East Cairo because it got no fuel.

Tell me about a failure state. Of course people are trying
to find an explanation.

First here is our 419th night of our Radio Arabian night , the 17th night of our tale.

If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element
Now Jinn Sahar saves Hagar from King Kaood’s knights by telling him that should hide at the magical valley of the bees that no one can enter. Of course the Jinn tells our hero the magical spell by which he can survive from the bees attack : He should ask the bees permission to enter. So did our hero Hagar who goes to the valley of bees leaving the knights of Kaood scared from entering the valley.
Moving to the old Seksek’s court , the Noble knight of the Nile decided to end his alliance with Seksek. The Seksek is worried from that move , he fears from the knight’s alliance with the rebels.
I do not know why the Noble knight of the Nile and that uprising in the land of king Seksek Hamdoon reminds me with Nasser and his support to uprisings and revolutions against kings in the Arab world.
Now the Seksek decides to punish that Dervish who gave him a charm , still the Dervish insists that his charm is working and the old king should wait. Meanwhile Seksek’s son Prince Khanger comes from his state and decides to see that maiden that enchanted his father.
Amazingly Prince Khanger suddenly fell for the maiden. Unfortunately the recording is cut here and we do not know what Prince Khanger told Sahar.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

President
Mohamed Morsi has dismissed Major General Mourad Mwafi from his position as the
head of the General intelligence in Egypt forcing him in to retirement. Morsi
assigned Major General Mohamed Rafaat as an acting spy chief for the current
time.

Morsi has also dismissed the governor of North
Sinai Abdel Mabrouk from his position.

According
to Egyptian National TV the president has appoint Major General Hamed Zaky as
the head of Republican guards as well Major General Maged Mostafa Kamel as the
head of central security forces in the ministry of interior.

On the
other hand Field Marshal Tantawy has dismissed Major General Hamdy Badeen from
his position as the commander of military police.

And hell broke loose technically in Sinai.
I do not know from where to start , ok Israel gave Egypt the green light to let its tanks, planes and all other the heavy arms in zones B and C from Sinai. “According to Security annex of Camp David accords Egypt can not have army officers or soldiers in these two areas , only police and lately borders guards with light arms and armored vehicles.”
Today for the first time since 1967 the Egyptian Air Forces sent its planes from air fighters like F16 and helicopters. According from what I understood the F16’s mission was to destroy the tunnels. Some are saying that Hamas is actually blocking the tunnels from its side.
The helicopters are transferring members from the elite special forces “777” to Halal mount which is a hot zone for all gangs whether terrorists or drug traffickers or human traffickers. It is not easy because historically we have bad experience in mounts fights especially in Yemen. Reports claim that the army is backed up with air forces and tens of militants were injured and killed. No official confirmation yet.
2 Canadians have been arrested and currently are being interrogated by military intelligence in the city of Al Arish.
There was on going gun battle around Al Gura airport which is close to our borders with Israel. There are also news about clashes south of Sheikh Zowaid between the militants and army.
Almost 5 checkpoints and cement factory following the army in Al Arish were attacked in mad scene. At least 2 police officers were injured after an attack targeting Al Arish police station and have been transferred to Al Arish general hospital. Al Arish general hospital is demanding blood donations and the locals are rushing to help.
The traffic is stopped in Al Arish. The locals are supporting the army there . The highway between Rafah and Al Arish is blocked by the army. Already there are no fights reported up till now in Rafah.
The MFO are on alert of course.
All this information is from tweeps and citizen journalists in North Sinai along with professional journalists with trusted contacts there.

Updated @11:13 AM CLT

An army commander told Reuters in Sinai that our troops managed to kill 20 terrorist in Touma village near Sheikh Zowaid.
We do not know who are these 20 terrorists and how they were killed exactly as according to AFP there are two versions of the story.
1- The 20 militants were killed by helicopters' according to army commanders in Sinai
2- The 20 militants attacked the troops and ground forces killed them.
Now according to tweep Ahmed El Ghoul from North Sinai life is normal in Al Arish as the clashes were on the outskirts of the city and that currently there are 5 injuries from the army and one policeman in the hospitals. 2 of them in Al Arish general hospital and the rest are in the military hospital.
Earlier the internet and mobile communications were cut but they are back now.
Here are photos from Sinai earlier today from Getty

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Today was the funeral of 16 Egyptian young men , from our officers and soldiers , from the borders guards that were killed in cold blood last Sunday on our borders with Israel. Today we were supposed to give our martyrs , those 16 young men an honorable funeral but instead we killed them again in their funeral in the coldest way ever. There were bad scenes that should not be seen in civilized society let alone a society like the Egyptian we claim to respect the dead and to unite in hard times.

The funeral

Scene#1

Instead of being united and raise above our differences , the funeral turned in to a political statement against the Muslim brotherhood and the democratically elected president Morsi throughout the funeral by Okasha , Abu Hamed and Bakry supporters from the Pro-SCAF and Pro-Mubarak using the army and the martyrs.

Morsi leave !!

Scene#2 :

The absence of President Morsi, the supreme commander of armed forces from the funeral of his officers and soldiers , the biggest sin he has ever committed in his month and couple of weeks rule. There is no good or enough justification for this horrible sin when it comes to his image in the eyes of the public. There are two justifications the presidency presented for Morsi's absence :

Morsi visiting injured soldiers "Reuters"

He visited the injured soldiers at the military hospital in Kooba and could not come because of the terrible traffic jam down town Cairo.

He wanted it to be popular funeral where people are free to express themselves without the presidential security restrictions.

He is weakening himself by his decision.He is losing the public as well Already now people are saying that he was afraid to go for fear to be attacked by his opponents despite he is the president who got the presidential guards in his side. I believe he should have gone because those big mouths would dare to throw him with shoes like the prime minister in the end of the day , he should have gone because if he were attacked the Egyptians who look high to the position of the president as the symbol of Egypt will not accept this. Now he is losing more support , more sympathy from the people. He is insisting to show himself as a weak president who does not even fight to get more powers.

Salah El Shahed , a name many Egyptians ignore yet played a very important role in the history of modern Egypt since 1940s till 1970s in the backstage. Salah El Shahed was the head of the presidential protocols in time of Naguib , Nasser and Sadat after occupying similar place in King Farouk´s Abdeen Palace.
Trained on the royal protocols , the man did not refuse to work with the Free officers especially Nasser and Sadat. In nutshell I think Mohamed Morsi needs a man like Salah El Shahed to help in his position and to teach him the protocols and how to act as a president.
I suddenly remember Salah El Shahed when I saw the photos of Morsi, our newly elected president , the first civilian to rule Egypt wearing a grey striped tie instead of black tie to mourn our officers and soldiers.

Morsi with Libyan PM Abdel RahimKeeb "Reuters"

May be I am picky but those small things mean so much to me. Of course the tie's color is not nothing compared to the major problem here , the smiling problem.

Monday, August 6, 2012

The general mood in Egypt is mourning one after the Sinai attack despite there is no official mourning just like in the days of Mubarak, Egyptians get killed and no official mourning !! People are sad in work and in homes. No TV channel has announced national mourning except ONTV as well Cairo Opera House that decided to cancel its artistic activities for three days in mourning. Al Shorouk newspaper has announced that President Morsi announced the official mourning for three days.

The death toll of victims raised to 16 !! The photos of martyrs began to find its way to social media. Young officers and conscripts whose ages range from 18 to 29 years old. The victims are from army and central security forces. Their bodies should reach to Cairo soon this afternoon !!
Currently there are strict check points in North Sinai according to Journalists who head from Cairo to Al Arish. The residents of North Sinai have already cut the roads and set tires on fire in solidarity with the Egyptian army.

Angry citizens in Sinai "AP"

Here is the televised speech of Morsi which he said very late night.

Anyhow this clip did not have the slightest effect on Egyptians compared to that video showing the victims transferred to the morgue. "Graphic"